Anthrax Vaccine Passes Early Test

An experimental anthrax vaccine has passed early safety and efficacy tests, its British manufacturer announced yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 2, 2003).

The United States provided London-based Avecia with $71 million to develop the vaccine to ensure a supply in case a larger contract with a different manufacturer falls through.

An $877 million contract with California-based VaxGen Inc. has seen repeated delays and delivery of the vaccine is expected no earlier than 2008, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 11).

Both contracts are for a less-complicated alternative to an existing vaccine that requires six injections over 18 months.

“We want to make sure we cover ourselves,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  “You want to make sure you don’t have everything invested in one particular product.”

In its test results announced yesterday, Avecia said that the vaccine had proven safe when administered to 111 volunteers, and that it produced an immune response of varying levels.  The new vaccine did appear, however, to offer less protection than the existing treatment.

“The implication [of the test results] … is that the immune response was not as good,” said Arthur Friedlander, a senior U.S. Army researcher.

Nevertheless, the new vaccine’s protection could still be adequate, AP reported.

A larger Avecia study involving 600 volunteers has begun, according to a British defense researcher (Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press/Washington Post, Sept. 28).

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